Why I’m Glad I Found APO

I remember when I was learning about social psychology in AP Psych, my teacher said, “I guarantee it, when you guys come back to visit from college, you guys will all be wearing your fraternity or sorority sweaters. ALL OF YOU!” Though his claim was a bit absolute, he wasn’t wrong. A great majority of us do find ourselves joining an organization or a fraternity of some sort. So, how do you know which one is the right one for you?

I joined APO fall during the fall semester of my sophomore year, which meant that I had quite sometime to explore my options to find the right organization for me. In retrospect, I’m glad I found APO because it really was the right organization for me. And here’s the number of reason why I was glad I found APO:

LA Food Bank- January 2013

1. Service

I was in a community service club in high school, so when I was searching for service-related organizations in college, APO was one that really spoke to me. They offered a wide range of service opportunities like, serving food at Monday Night Mission (a homeless shelter on Skid Row), walking dogs with Furbaby Rescue and many more! The best part of it was that I was give the opportunity to participate in those service events during rush so I can be sure of my decision to join the organization. And boy was I glad that I did! There are service events almost everyday, so no matter what kind of busy schedule I had, there were always time to service the community.

Beach Clean Up, November 2012

2. Friendship

A great factor of APO that all the brothers would agree with me about is that as we’re doing service, we’re also having fun with our friends. For example, volunteering at the LA Regional Food Bank is another regular service project that we do. We usually get paired up when it comes to sorting the foods, and it’s a wonderful way to catch up with your friends!

Service aside, since friendship is another one of our cardinal principles, there are a lot of fun activities–like beach trips, scavenger hunts (the options really are limitless!)–to hang out with fellow brothers/friends.

3. Leadership/professional development 

During pledge meetings, there would be leadership development workshops that helps the pledges become better leaders. One that I remember the most was a work shop led by Eric Chao demonstrating the various types of leaders people are.

However, there are over 20 leadership/eboard positions that our members can run for. Also, for pledges they can run for pledge e-board, too! I’m currently serving as the PR chair, and I’m a PR major. I’m learning so much with this position, and it’s a terrific opportunity for me to apply what I’ve learned in my PR classes.

4. A second family

One of the best things a fraternity has to offer is the experience of being a part of a pledge class. I was blessed with having warm, loving pledge brothers and a pledge team that always had my back and really heightened my APO experience. One of my favorite memories was going on a Thanksgiving road trip with some of my pbros!

Are you excited to create your own fun memories!? Hope you find the org that you will some day look back and laugh about the great memories!

Joanne